©  AP

With less than one month until President-elect Trump returns to the Oval Office, he’s already calling the shots and acting as if he is president.

Meanwhile, President Biden is keeping a low profile during his last weeks in power.

Despite being out of office for four years, Trump was still able to pull the strings within the Republican party. He torpedoed a bipartisan border bill earlier this year, and during the 2022 midterms, any Republican candidate who wanted a real shot at winning sought the former president’s endorsement.

Since his reelection in November, Trump has wasted no time jumping back into business. He’s pushed a slew of Cabinet nominees, some of whom have proven controversial, and just last week, his opposition to a government funding bill sent Congress scrambling to reach a deal before the shutdown deadline.

Biden, meanwhile, had little if no involvement in the government funding fight, a move that is unusual for a sitting president, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports. 

“Nobody is talking about, ‘Where’s Biden?’ in any of this. Trump is in charge,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. “Trump is in charge now, even without the election certification.”

“The fact that the sitting president of the United States didn’t have much of an impact on it is really telling, especially since the president has one of the [chambers] of Congress under his control, or his party’s control,” Vin Weber, a Republican strategist, said. 

While Biden’s allies say he didn’t need to distract from the Republican-on-Republican fighting, other Democrats thought he could have been more vocal in the process.

“I think they’re out of energy,” a Democratic senator who requested anonymity said of Biden.

Questions surrounding Biden’s lack of involvement in his final weeks comes as Wall Street Journal report detailed how aides have had to adapt “around the needs of a diminished leader” while Biden has been in office. 

Some Democrats have pushed back on the criticism of Biden, pointing to the Senate’s confirmation of Biden’s 235th judicial nominee, which beats Trump’s 234 confirmed judges during his first term.

Biden has been making headlines this week. On Monday, he commuted the sentences of nearly every federal prisoner on death row in a move that sparked criticism from Republicans and at least one Democrat, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill). 

The previous week, Biden made another move, pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, as well as 1,500 people — setting a new daily record for clemency — who were put on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Trump never has a problem winning headlines, though some of his remarks continue to baffle people in the United States and abroad. 

Two such examples in the last couple of days has suggested the U.S. should take back control of the Panama Canal and buy Greenland. 

• Greenland:

In a social media post, Trump said owning Greenland, the world’s largest island, was “an absolute necessity” for the United States for the purposes of national security and “[f]reedom throughout the World.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute B. Egede promptly pushed back, saying, “Greenland is ours … We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”

According to The New York Times, Trump likely covets Greenland “at a time when the melting of Arctic ice is opening new commercial and naval competition and for its reserves of rare earth minerals needed for advanced technology.

Trump floated the idea of obtaining Greenland during his first term, but it was widely seen as a joke. 

•  Panama Canal:

Trump has pointed to “exorbitant prices” as the reason why the U.S. should retake control of the canal, which has been under Panama’s control since 1999.

Panama pushed back on Trump’s claims, with President José Raúl Mulino releasing a lengthy statement: 

“As President, I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to PANAMA, and will continue to be. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable,” Mulino said.

The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch has 5 things to know about Trump’s threats to retake the Panama Canal

💡Perspectives:

• How Trump’s tariffs can generate both economic and political reform in China (The Hill)

• What happens in a second Trump term? Look to Richard Nixon. (The Hill)

• Why Trump Really Should ‘Buy’ Greenland (WSJ)

• What has Biden wrought? (Politico)

Read more: 

• Trump vows to direct DOJ to pursue death penalty in wake of Biden clemencies

• Fox News’s Kilmeade estimates Greenland could cost $1.5 trillion

• Denmark to boost Greenland defense amid Trump comments

• Gimenez calls Trump Panama threats ‘legitimate’

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Emily Martin, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Hill’s Evening Report will not be publishing the rest of the week. We’ll be back in your inboxes on Dec. 30. Happy holidays! 🎅🎄

• Around 1 million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 in a rebate, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

   

• Automakers Ford and Toyota are making big donations to President-elect Trump’s inauguration, with both donating $1 million in addition to a fleet of vehicles from Ford. 

• Former President Clinton was admitted to the hospital Monday with a fever but was discharged Tuesday with the flu. 

©  AP

‘Tis the season for lengthy security lines, flight delays and hazardous winter weather.

Early Tuesday, American Airlines briefly grounded all flights due to a technical issue with its vendor technology. While it’s unclear exactly how many flights across the country were affected by the grounding, nearly 80 flights in Charlotte, N.C., — where American has a hub — were delayed. 

✈️ See this graphic of flight traffic before and after the grounding. 

According to an X post from the National Weather Service, “[a] storm system will continue sweeping through the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Christmas Eve with a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain making for hazardous travel.

• AccuWeather reports that heavier snow in the Northeast and an icy mix in the South may lead to delays both on the road and in the air.

• New York and parts of New England are expected to get 3-6 inches of snow.

LaGuardia International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport had a combined 148 delays as of late Tuesday morning, according to FlightAware. Boston Logan International Airport had 30 delays.

• FlightAware also reports that 3,712 flights entering or leaving the U.S. were delayed Tuesday, with 55 flights canceled.

These conditions portend a hazardous day of travel on Christmas Day.

🎅 Want to track Santa’s journey across the globe? See when he’ll be in your neck of the woods with NORAD’s Santa Tracker. 

©  iStock

• Biden administration withdraws birth control rules

The Biden administration is withdrawing a set of proposed rules aimed at expanding access to contraception that would have made it more difficult for employer-sponsored health plans and insurers to exclude coverage of birth control,” reports The Hill’s Colin Meyn. 

• Former DC police officer convicted over leaks to Proud Boys leader

“Former Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Lt. Shane Lamond was convicted Monday of obstructing an investigation into the former Proud Boys national chair, Enrique Tarrio, just weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot,” reports The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky.

• EPA approves pilot project to make road out of radioactive material in Florida

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a pilot project that would allow a company to build a small road made out of a radioactive fertilizer byproduct — drawing environmentalist ire,” reports The Hill’s Rachel Frazin. 

• Russian court sentences US citizen to 15 years in jail for espionage

A Russian court has sentenced a U.S. citizen to 15 years in jail for espionage on Tuesday, according to Russian state media outlets,” reports The Hill’s Filip Timotija.

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